The camp bullies and prime trappers of the party began to ruffle up, and
to brag, in turn, of their perils and achievements. Each now tried
to out-boast and out-talk the other; a quarrel ensued as a matter
of course, and a general fight, according to frontier usage. The two
factions drew out their forces for a pitched battle. They fell to work
and belabored each other with might and main; kicks and cuffs and dry
blows were as well bestowed as they were well merited, until, having
fought to their hearts' content, and been drubbed into a familiar
acquaintance with each other's prowess and good qualities, they ended
the fight by becoming firmer friends than they could have been rendered
by a year's peaceable companionship.
While Captain Bonneville amused himself by observing the habits and
characteristics of this singular class of men, and indulged them, for
the time, in all their vagaries, he profited by the opportunity to
collect from them information concerning the different parts of the
country about which they had been accustomed to range; the characters
of the tribes, and, in short, everything important to his enterprise. He
also succeeded in securing the services of several to guide and aid him
in his peregrinations among the mountains, and to trap for him during
the ensuing season. Having strengthened his party with such valuable
recruits, he felt in some measure consoled for the loss of the Delaware
Indians, decoyed from him by Mr Fontenelle.
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